Microsoft is currently searching for a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer who plans to retire within the next 10 months. Recent reports suggest the company has shortlisted Ford CEO Alan Mulally and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop as external candidates.Mulally has stated he has no intentions to leave Ford, but aBloomberg report claims that Elop has big plans if he’s made CEO. After a brief stint as the head of Microsoft’s business division, responsible for Office and other products, Elop’s return to Microsoft in the CEO position would reportedly involve a push for Office on Android and iOS.

Elop is reportedly considering a strategy shift away from Microsoft’s tradition of Office running primarily on Windows PCs. Bloomberg reports that Elop is formulating "some broad strategic outlines for Microsoft," in what is likely to be part of the interview process for the CEO position. Elop’s potential strategy is said to involve maximizing sales of Office instead of using it to push Windows PC and tablet sales. Microsoft’s Office and server software has been performing well in recent financial results, while Windows continues to struggle alongside a declining PC industry.

I do NOT get why you'd ever want to kill XBOX even if it is losing some money, why? because it's a HUGE marketing tool for MS... besides it's so integrated now into windows in terms of branding... and if MS only focused on business, what would they become? IBM?... where you slowly fade off into the gov contract area and are rarely heard or seen from again? Yeah there is a LOT of money there but nothing like being a prosumer type of business where you are targeting the professional and consumer...

The Xbox division hasn't been profitable for Microsoft, while its online services division (which includes Bing) continues to lose billions of dollars. Sony actually fared worse with the PlayStation 3, which highlights how competitive the market is. Microsoft would be better off selling the Xbox division and focusing on supporting third parties with open platform games machines, like Valve is doing with Steam Machines. Don't forget that the Xbox was originally intended to be a Windows based DirectX gaming console and being open platform would have been much more in-line with Microsoft's traditional business model.

Spinning off the Xbox division, killing off Bing and pushing Office onto iOS and Android would be a bold move for Microsoft but one that could greatly benefit the company. I wasn't convinced about Elop before but he is shaping up to be the sort of radical CEO that Microsoft needs.

Sounds like he's worried that Microsoft have spread themselves too thin, and so he wants to return to the things that made Microsoft who they are in the first place. I'm not sure why her thinks that, but that's just what it sounds like.

Dropping Bing? Yeah ok, I can understand his reasons for that. But selling the Xbox business would be pretty silly in my opinion.

I agree with pushing Office for non-Microsoft products like Android, iOS and perhaps even Linux but the rest doesn't make any sense. Microsoft's Xbox brand is very well known. That specific division may be losing money but that won't hurt Microsoft. They have a lot of money and Xbox is a long-term investment for them.

As for Bing, I'm beginning to use it more and more now. And I'm not alone. Google is having an issue with their image lately because of privacy concerns. I'm not saying people should ditch Google entirely because I can't speak for everyone. Personally, I'm using Google's products less and less. The hardest one for me to stop using is Gmail and YouTube. I have no use for Google+ anymore and Bing is good enough for me.

The Xbox division hasn't been profitable for Microsoft, while its online services division (which includes Bing) continues to lose billions of dollars. Sony actually fared worse with the PlayStation 3, which highlights how competitive the market is. Microsoft would be better off selling the Xbox division and focusing on supporting third parties with open platform games machines, like Valve is doing with Steam Machines. Don't forget that the Xbox was originally intended to be a Windows based DirectX gaming console and being open platform would have been much more in-line with Microsoft's traditional business model.

Spinning off the Xbox division, killing off Bing and pushing Office onto iOS and Android would be a bold move for Microsoft but one that could greatly benefit the company. I wasn't convinced about Elop before but he is shaping up to be the sort of radical CEO that Microsoft needs.

I have to agree here..

Bing is a joke and just annoys most people.. I wouldn't sell xbox just yet though.. it's has a lot of marketshare.. and sometimes that is more important than profit.. they make up for it in other areas.

Bing is a joke and just annoys most people.. I wouldn't sell xbox just yet though.. it's has a lot of marketshare.. and sometimes that is more important than profit.. they make up for it in other areas.

In your opinion, maybe, but many people I know that aren't glued to Google by Android use it.

All joking aside, I can't help but feel that Microsoft just has its fingers in too many pies. Honestly there are countless applications and services that we use (new and old) where either support has simply just dried up as Microsoft has lost interest in it, or where even on a new product support just isn't as good as it should be. An attempt to offload non-profitable business units, and to focus on core business sounds appealing - I can't say whether it would be a good move because I have no idea about which areas Microsoft make money in, but it makes sense.

Bing should definitely be killed off. It's been a failure from the start.

There's a lot of positives in branching off Xbox into it's own business but also creates a lot of uncertainties. Right now a lot of suits who don't care about the games industry are in charge of it which isn't healthy or good for the long term outlook.